


Down the dark path we go

by sasha_bo



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Brain Surgery, Brain tumor, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-07-28 23:21:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7661107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_bo/pseuds/sasha_bo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles always assumed they were invincible, untouchable. So much had tried to take them down but they always built back up, making something worthwhile and producing something so...good. For something like this to take it away. No. Not possible. Plain, fucking, unacceptable</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The writing may seem a bit....wacky but this is third person written from Stiles' POV so I guess the writing style is meant to reflect him as a character.

Stiles hated school. He hated kindergarten. He hated primary school and, despite appearances, he abhorred high school. He would sit at his desk, staring at the clock, willing the time to pass until the blissful sound of the last school bell rang through the hallways and he could sprint out of the building just to fall in to a state of depression when he realised he would have to repeat the same day again. And again. And again.

  
With that thought, he now wanted to slap past-Stiles in the face when he had the 'brain-wave' that teaching was the profession he would excel at but had just resulted in him repeating the same motions that a 16 year old Stiles had done twenty years prior.

  
Don't get him wrong, he loved teaching. And, lets face it, he was a thousand times a better chemistry teacher then Harris could have ever hoped to be. But it was Friday, it was cold and he, like the rest of his students, just wanted to go home. Which is why he had joined in with the rest of the class watching the clock tick past. Fuck school work, its Friday.

  
He cant be blamed for shoving his own students out of the way when the bell rang to get out of the door. He cant...he has literally had a lifetime of living his life by a bell - his class couldn't even begin to imagine the pain and suffering he had gone through for the past hour.

  
Racing to the car, he waved a hand behind him in a half-assed method of goodbye to his colleagues who had by now had time to get used to the chaos Stiles Stilinski left behind him come half three on a Friday afternoon. So had the students with the way they quickly moved out of the way as he sped out of the car park. Guess everyone had learned their lesson after Stiles clipped Greenburgs kid a couple of years back with his car then proceeded to yell at the startled child for adding minutes onto his journey home. Luckily Greenburg couldn't hold a grudge to save his life but could, in fact, hold the star stuck admiration he had had for Stiles since they were thirteen when Stiles burped the whole alphabet in the school cafeteria during lunch break for years. Scott still swears down that he saw Greenburg crying in the corner of his dad's garden the day Stiles got married.

  
Usually, it took Stiles 15 minutes to drive from the school to the preserve. 8 minutes if he put his foot down. 1 hour and 20 minutes if Sheriff Parrish caught him putting his foot down. 3 hours if Deputy Lahey caught him putting his foot down. The next day if Jackass-Deputy-Jackson caught him putting his foot down.

  
Seriously, who in the name of GOD let Jackson become a cop. Standards had slipped since Stiles's Dad retired, a point Stiles reiterated to Parrish every time they saw each other. Which is surprisingly alot but not too surprising since Parrish and Derek became 'the best bro's-to-ever-bro' since Stiles and Scott.

  
Not that Stiles was jealous. Derek deserved to have friends. Derek, at one point, NEEDED to have friends. Stiles just wished he and Parrish would tone it down a bit. God, no wonder Derek hated him so much when they first met if that was what he and Scotty were like with each other.

  
Thankfully, he wasn't pulled over nor was there a squad car outside the house as he pulled up to his house with a sigh. It was SAT time; meaning the stress levels of the students, the teachers and even the janitor was sky high. Stiles needed this weekend. He had already sent out a "Leave us alone. You come to the house, you die" group text to the pack. Usually his request would have been met with mockery and, in some cases, flat out ignored but he was fairly certain that the pack would stick to it when Derek agreed. Well, not so much agreed rather than reply with "word". Stupid Parrish.

  
Walking into the house, Stiles noted the dead silence. Stiles didn't like silence. Silence meant bad things in their house. Or it meant that Derek had locked himself in the basement again and didn't want to break down the door because "Dammit Stiles, these doors are mahogany. I'm not paying for new doors." Good forbid that Derek spends his vast fortune on something other then their son.

  
Yes, he may have paid the bulk of the money spent on the refurbished Hale house, and for the land, and the car but Stiles would like to point out that his husband? Stingy as fuck when he wanted to be which was alot of the time.

  
Anyway. Silence. Bad.

  
Between the husband, the child and the devils incarnate wrapped in fur (a.k.a Pinky and the Brain, a.k.a the two family dogs) there was always noise. Hell there was always noise when it was just he and Derek in the cesspit also known as their first flat while Stiles was at college - of a completely different kind but thats not the point. A time before mortgages, children and queen outs about grey hair.

  
(Seriously, when people remark on how well put together Derek is compared to his partner, Stiles feels like it his patriotic duty to inform everyone and anyone about the time Derek locked himself in the bathroom for an hour as he cried over this first grey hair in his beard. It was increased to three hours when he found his first grey pube but Derek isn't so keen on Stiles telling people about THAT queen out. It was bad enough when he told his Dad and Melissa over thanksgiving dinner. Three years of sobriety for his Dad down the drain)

  
Stiles isn't ashamed to say that his first action, when confronted with the aching silence of the house, was to pick up his trusted bat from the hallway closet as he stealthily crept through the living room before swinging past the dining room and into the kitchen. Yeah, shit may have died down since they closed the nemeton but Stiles is alot of things, stupid he isn't.

  
He is however ashamed to say he let out a scream (very manly, but a scream anyway) when the back door of the kitchen swung open and what can only be described as a tsunami of noise came along with it. Dogs were flying around the house, flinging mud as Derek stomped in with a squealing four year old hoisted over his shoulder, mid way through a rant.

  
"....eriously Jack. I know you want to pretend to be a dog but you are not. We raised you better then this. The neighbours are going to talk...."

  
"Don't listen to him Jack-Jack" Stiles interjected while shuffling away from the muddy dogs who now wanted to jump up on him and say hello. Goddammit, this was his favorite work shirt "You be whatever you want to be.."

  
"Don't listen to him either..." Derek answered as he placed their son onto the kitchen counter. Stiles had to admit, he was actually impressed with how much Jack had managed to cake himself in mud. Not a speck of his usually bright blond hair could be seen. Maybe Derek had finally had enough and just dunked the child into a puddle. "I have it on good authority that your Dad wanted to be a fire truck when he was younger."

  
Stiles spluttered "...you were never meant to find that out..."

  
Derek turned to face the other man, a smirk placed on his face. Even with a muddy hand print of a child's hand on his face, he still looked beautiful. Bastard. "Your Dad and I have a special son-in-law, father-in-law bond."

  
Stiles finally took pity, grabbing one of the many packets of wet wipes they had stashed around the house as he walked forward and tried to help Derek clean the squirming child "You and my Dad have a bond only shared by being complete d. bags"

  
See, Stiles was getting better at this parental malarkey. He knew he wanted to say assholes. Derek knew he wanted to say assholes. Hell, his Dad probably knew he wanted to say assholes but he had refrained like the mature adult that he is. Yay parenting!!

  
"Dad, whats a d.bag?" Jack asked as he tried to maneuver away from the wet wipe and, coincidently, off of the counter top. Luckily Derek was on hand to scoop the child up with an arm under his thighs and the other around his waist.

  
"A d.bag is a silly person. But lets not tell your granddad about that shall we?" Stiles answered, finally admitting that it was a lost cause and that a wet wipe would not solve this issue.

  
Stiles, as mentioned before, was not stupid. Hence why he refrained from uttering the b.a.t.h word.

  
Fortunately for him, Derek may be pretty but he can also be stupid.

  
"Think it might be a bath for you little man"

  
....two hours later, Stiles can still hear Jack's crying ringing through his ears even though the child was now chortling to himself as he splashed around in the bath tub, seeming trying to do his best to soak his Papa. Stiles would help but, quite frankly, Derek brought this on himself. Its not like Stiles had an easy job. He had to try and hose down a German Shepherd and a Jack Russell who were adamant that the water from the house pipe was quality drinking water.

 

* * *

  
Siles lay in bed, listening as Derek gave Jack his bedtime story. Sometimes he was offended that Jack preferred Derek to read to him but, in all honestly, Derek was a beast at the voices. But finally it was quiet. The dogs were down, Jack was down and he and Derek could finally chill for the weekend.

  
Fortunately for the two of them, a certain part of Stiles was not down. Its not like they could be how they were 10 years ago, which is partly a shame as Derek had only gotten better with age. OK, the six pack was more like a two pack, his hair was only just still mostly black rather then grey and he wasn't exactly bench pressing a house anymore but for a 42 year old, his husband was still fit as fuck.

  
He was roused out of him thoughts as said fit as fuck husband trundled into their bedroom, closing the door behind him and flinging himself face-first onto the bed with a groan as he half-heartedly removed his sweats.

  
"Thank god today is over" Derek mumbled into the pillow, not even attempting to remove the rest of his clothes. Its ok, Stiles would gladly do it for him.

  
"How was work?" Stiles asked as he maneuvered Derek to remove his shirt who, quite frankly, made no effort to help. Rude.

  
"S'alright. Scott brought a new dog in. Should be a re-homeable one." Stiles stopped as he threw Derek's shirt onto the floor, hand tracing a purpling bruise which crossed over his husbands back. He made a note of the hiss Derek gave when he glided his fingers over it.

  
"What happened?" Stiles asked as he lay back on the bed, fingers still tracing the mark which stopped at Derek's rib cage.

  
Derek yawned "Mind the St Bernard? Something spooked him when I led him out the kennel. Fell over and cracked my back off the shelving."

  
Stiles brow creased "Must have been pretty bad for the mark to still be that bad...."

  
"Its fine" Derek interrupted "just 'cos I'm tired. Don't heal like I used to"

  
Stiles gently turned Derek around, waiting as he settled himself to reduce the pressure on his back before leaning in to give him a kiss. "Hopefully not too tired"

  
Stiles deepened the kiss, hoping Derek got the innuendo. With the way Derek was kissing back, he fully got the innuendo and was fully on board. Back in the day (god, did that make Stiles feel old) they would spend hours on foreplay. Hours. There would be tears, tantrums and orgasms. They don't have time for that shit now. They have to get on with it in case an inquisitive four year old walked through the door and saw them 'wrestling'. 

Stiles will not tolerate Douchbag Whittemore giving him a 'scum-of-the-earth' look again, like they were intentionally trying to corrupt a toddler.

Derek writhed as Stiles kissed down his neck, working his way down his pecks - god did he love the other mans pecs - before nosing at Derek's boxers. Stiles was all on board with the sex. However from the snore that vibrated around the room, Derek was not.

Looking up in a mixture of shock and insult, Stiles suspicions were confirmed. Derek had indeed fallen asleep. Yes, he may have had bags under his eyes and now that Stiles was looking closely he did look drained but that was totally not the point. They hadn't had sex for at least two days and a quickie in the shower does not count.

Sighing to himself, Stiles drew up onto his knees. He tried to be dignified but really, alot of dignity is lost when the love of our life falls asleep when you were putting out your best moves. OK 'best moves' may have been an exaggeration but it didn't negate the point that one half of the marriage was fast asleep and the other half was currently sporting a boner that could legitimately shatter glass.

Carefully, but with the attitude of somebody that was quite annoyed, Stiles drew the bed sheet over Derek and tucked him in before going off the jack off in the bathroom.

Waste not, want not and all that jazz.

 


	2. Chapter 2

People always ask about the dogs. Specifically about their names. According to what he tells people, its because the cartoon was a classic and nothing else ever produced would ever beat it.

  
Stiles and Derek, however, know the real reason.

  
"The Brain. Can The Brain please come into the room" Scott sighed as he crossed the name off of his clip board and waited while Stiles and his Jack Russell slowly walked into the examination room, purely to preserve the second hand embarrassment that Scott was currently suffering as the packed waiting room snickered.

  
In all honestly, this was the only reason Derek agreed to name the dogs 'Pinky and The Brain'.

  
"I swear down Stiles..." Scott muttered as he closed the door behind them while Stiles heft the dog onto the table "...it gets worse every time."

  
Stiles held his hands up, a false look of innocence plastered on his face "Not my fault. His name is awesome"

  
Scott sighed in exasperation, shaking his head as he went to do his job. "Anything I need to know?" he asked as he had a look at The Brain's ears.

  
"Derek fell asleep on me a couple of nights ago as I was trying to get him on my dick..."

  
To Scott's credit, he didn't even pause as he continued his examination "I did mean about the dog...don't look at me like that, I'm not calling him The Brain...but whatever. Look, I wouldn't take it personally. Derek didn't seem that hot when I dropped by the kennels the other day. Guy is probably just wiped."

  
Stiles scoffed "He is a werewolf. He doesn't get tired. And the headaches. He's been getting those now..."

  
"Yeah" Scott agreed, lifting The Brains left leg up "He is a werewolf but he is still human and just isn't as young as us. Of course at some point he was going to start showing his age. Even then, with all the fighting and the stress of 'those days', it was always going to take a toll on him. I wouldn't worry about it. Hand off Jack to your Dad for a couple of nights, take some time to yourselves and I'm sure he will be fine in a couple of days."

  
Scott paused as he walked over to the medicine cabinet, returning with a few bottles and needles "Just a few inoculations and...the dog...will be up to date on all his jabs."

  
Stiles worried his lower lip, deep in thought as Scott spoke. A loud sigh interrupted his thoughts. "Stiles, look, Derek is fine. You are fine and Jack is fine..."

  
"I know" Stiles shook his shoulders, trying to get a grip of himself "I know that. You know me though, always worried about the little things."

  
Scott laughed as he lowered The Brain back to the floor for him to scuttle over the Stiles' side "Yeah, I know. I do the same. As I said, have some time to yourselves and I'm sure once you have both relaxed, his headaches will go away and he will be his usual, cheery self."

  
Stiles laughed as Scott handed him the leash. Derek may be alot of things now, may have changed so much in the space of 20 years but one thing that hadn't was that Derek was still surly with everyone. Except for Parrish. Fucking Parrish.

 

* * *

  
Speaking of Jordan 'Fucking' Parrish, not only had he hijacked his couch and his son, but he had the audacity to bring Jackson Whittemore with him. Stiles had tried to explain at length that, despite his new found maturity, he and Jackson were arch-enemies and as such, they could never be civilised to each other.

  
Yes, OK, Jackson may have saved his Dad from a vampire that one time but the man still stole his lunch box when they were six. Some things just cant be forgiven.

  
"Jackass"

  
"Stilinski. Please refrain from profanity with a child in the room. Some may look at that as contributing to the delinquency of a minor."

  
What a dickhead.

  
Stiles gave up, turning towards Parrish who held Jack on his lap while he helped him colour in Captain America's Shield "Wheres Derek?"

  
Jordan nodded his head towards the back door "Out at the kennels. Some guys stopped by to look at the dogs so I said I would watch this guy."

  
Stiles nodded "Cool, you want a drink or anything?"

  
Again, as a new found sign of his maturity, he refrained from swearing when Jackson asked for a drink as well, simply walking past him with a "No, I'm not your slave, do something for once and get it yourself"  
...Obviously Stiles didn't think it through when Jackson walked into the kitchen with him, barging Stiles out of the way to get to the fridge before him.

  
Stiles was about to unleash a rain of fire down on the cop (but in a whispered way. Sound travels very well in their house) but stopped when he caught sight of Derek's figure from the side of his eye line. Stiles' hesitation caused Jackson to zone in on the figure as well.

  
"What's he doing?" Jackson asked, moving closer to Stiles to get a better look out the window. From where they were stood, they could see a profile of Derek as he stood to the side and looked at the annex to the house which was used as his kennel for the stray dogs he got from the vets.

  
What got Stiles was the look of confusion which was written across the half of Derek's face which they could see. Without responding, Stiles walked through the already open kitchen door and out onto the patio. "Derek? You OK man?"

  
At this, Derek seemed to jump, startled out of his thoughts by the other. Chancing a glance behind him and back into the kitchen, Stiles saw a look cross Jackson's face which could have been concern. That was if Jackson actually had feelings and wasn't a total douche-canoe.

  
Turning back to Derek, Stiles watched as the blank look of confusion left his face. "Sorry. I..I was as in my own mind for a second. When'd you get back?"

  
"Couple of minutes ago....you sure you are OK?" Stiles hedged closer to Derek, trying to play cool.

  
The wolf exhaled, running a hand through his pepper hair "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." Stiles wasn't sold but he trusted Derek. Long had the time past when they would lie to each other.

  
"Cool" Stiles shrugged "if you are done out here, I'm just going to make some lunch"

  
Stiles turned and walked back into the house, ignoring the look Jackson sent his way "Everything is fine. Fuck off out my kitchen before your kanima ass ruins my decor"

  
"DADDY SAID A BAD WORD"

  
"GODDAMMIT JACKSON!"


	3. Chapter 3

Out of the original 'pack', nobody expected Stiles and Derek to become the OTP of the group. Not only the OTP but also the longest relationship however here they were, 15 years down the line and still bickering like they did when Stiles was on the cusp of adulthood and a growth spurt.

Compared to everyone else, they did things slightly different. No fairy tale romance beginning here....unless the fairy tale had its start point in a porno.

  
Two broken people finding comfort in a platonic, very strictly friends-with-very-dirty/kinky-benefits kind of way. As with most things in his life, Stiles sucked at keeping to the agreement  but, fortunately for him, Derek was even worse at making his own life decisions. Two months later, they both agreed that living without each other was going to be an inconvenience to them both so they might as well put on their big boy pants and give this relationship a go.

  
Now two years of dating, three years of co-habiting, 6 years of marriage and four years of parenthood later, Stiles wonders where it all went wrong for himself as he tried to put out a pan fire in his kitchen as he yelled at his husband.

  
"Christ Stiles, I was away from it for a minute!" Derek yelled as he tried to remain angry while carrying a screaming toddler in his arms.

  
"Obviously not..." Stiles gestured to the still flaming pan "...a pan doesn't just go on fire after a few minutes. You actively trying to burn the house down?!"

  
"Thats not fair" Derek whispered as he drew Jack further into his side.

  
"I know its not but for gods sake Derek, you cant just leave a pan on the stove!" Stiles managed to fling a kitchen cloth over the pan, coughing at the remnants of smoke as it made their way out of the open window. Walking to Derek, he hoisted Jack off of his husbands hips and onto his own "I know you didn't mean it."

  
"It was a minute" Derek angrily interjected, raising a hand to the side of his head as a grimace of pain over took his features "I was gone one goddamn fucking minute".

  
Stiles drew back. Derek had never once sworn with Jack in the room. "We are not doing this now. Go out for a walk and calm down."

  
Derek hissed as he walked past his husband, towards the door "Don't treat me like a fucking child. I'm not stupid and I'm not fucking losing it"

  
"Wait who said anything 'bout you..." the foundations of the house seemed to shake as the kitchen door was slammed behind the retreating figure "...losing it?"  
  


 

* * *

  
  
The echo of the back door closing vibrated around the quiet house hours later. Stiles could hear footsteps making their way up the stairs until a shadow blocked out the light from the doorway into Jack's room. Stiles looked away from the sleeping child up to his husband who joined him on the floor, facing the crib with his back to the wall.

  
"I'm sorry" Derek softly spoke.

  
"Me too. I shouldn't have gone off on one" Stiles countered, turning to face the other man.

  
"No" Derek hesitated "you were right to. I shouldn't have said what I said and reacted the way I did."

  
Stiles shrugged "Eh, its fine. S'not like you do it all the time." And it was true. In all the years that they have known each other, Derek had never reacted once like that during a fight. Normally it was Stiles who would flounce off and waltz to his dad's house. Well, attempt to. Usually he got about half way before he caved and called Derek for a lift back to the house.

  
Derek lent in to nudge his shoulder against his husbands "Am I forgiven?"

  
"Suppose so."

  
Most people would expect a declaration of love, a spit of passion and then a night filled with soppy love making while they gazed into each others eyes and wondered how they got so lucky.

  
Not the Stilinski-Hale's.

  
"So now we have got that out of the way, lets have a quick fuck and go to bed. No offense but you look like you are about to drop dead"

  
"I'm down with that"


	4. Chapter 4

Scott was sickening when he was in a relationship. If anything, he had just gotten worse from the days of Allison and Kira. Its was disgusting and shameful in Stiles' eyes. So much so that the phrase "If we ever get like Scott and his latest love interest, we might as well be dead and I agree to end it for our own sakes" had made it's way into his wedding vows.

  
Derek had topped him by suggesting a joint suicide for the same situation in his.

  
It wasn't normal behavior, despite what everyone else said. OK so Parrish, Issac and Kira were the same with their other halves as well but that didn't mean Stiles and Derek were weird.

  
It didn't.

  
...It hadn't until Jackson agreed with their view point of PDA but, by that point, Derek and Stiles were too set in their ways to do anything about it. Don't get him wrong - its not like he doesn't love Derek but they just didn't feel the need to show everyone and anyone that side of them. Well as much of a 'side' as they had. After all, the most romantic thing Derek had ever done for him up to that point was Tivo every season  of American Horror Story. Stiles repaid him by matching up all of Derek's socks.

  
See? Romantic AND practical.

  
The down side to their chill attitude to love was that nobody had believed them when they had started dating. Not a single person. Not Scott, not his dad, not that wench of a man from the Johanson Pack from Nebraska who came to pay Scott a visit during Stiles' 3rd year of college ("No Brody, we are not pulling your leg. Me and Derek are totally doing it. No, don't tell him he can do better, he cant. I am a delight to be around."). After the 6th month where they were still having to justify that they weren't trying to get one over on everyone, they decided to try the PDA thing.

  
They held hands (but stopped when Derek complained about Stiles' sweaty hands), they kissed (but stopped when it because apparent that they couldn't kiss without it inherently leading to other things. That was an awkward lunch with his Dad and Melissa), they cuddled (but stopped because Derek is a fucking furnace and his beard scratched Stiles' neck), they tried pet names (but stopped when Derek legitimately turned green when the word 'baby' was uttered during a pack dinner at Pizza Hut. Stiles couldn't blame him, he felt slightly ill just saying it).

  
PDA just didn't agree with them. But sarking, banter and threats of physical violence did.

  
Well, the threats of violence did until a blond haired, blue eyed whirling tornado of attitude, tears and diapers came into their lives. That was when they discovered that they were capable of PDA....just not with each other.  
Scott once asked Stiles if it bothered him that Derek was never affectionate. Stiles answered that if he ever was, Stiles would be looking for the return of the nogitsune as that would cause a bucket load of chaos on its own.  
They are not affectionate, they are not romantic and they are not anyones 'baby' and you know what? Thats OK.

  
People don't get it because they don't get Derek. In all honesty, people don't really get Stiles either. A better turn of phrase might be that people just don't know Derek. They don't know how sarcastic the man is. Seriously, there have been days where Derek has destroyed Stiles with his sarcasm. Made him curl up on the floor with tears running down his face as he tried to inhale air through his hysterical laughter because as well as being sarcastic? Derek is funny as fuck. Even more so when he combines his dry wit with his dark humor. Nobody makes Stiles laugh like his husband does. Jack does sometimes but the kid is a comedian in the making and Stiles is fully aware he is biased.

  
Anyway, Stiles was happy. He had been happy since that epic day where he succinctly suggested to Derek "your fucked up, I'm fucked up, lets be fucked up together and just fuck" after a couple of drinks.

  
Though at this exact moment, he was not happy. Not in the slightest. To his left stood his stupid partner. To his right stood his partners stupid right hand man. In front of him sat his stupid father  who was trying (and failing) to hide any evidence of a MacDonald's. His attempt to hide it was to offload any evidence of any wrong doing to his precious grandson. Jack was trying to help his granddad by feeding the left over nuggets to Pinky. Stiles is pretty sure the dog is drooling on top of the kids head.

  
"So....explain?"

  
His Dad pointed to Derek "He is trying to butter me up. I tried to refuse but he wouldn't drop it. Practically force-fed me."

  
Derek pointed to Jordan "He told me to do it. He is trying to get me into trouble. Blame him."

  
Jordan pointed to John "I was told that if I wanted his recommendation for Sheriff, I had to fed him with proper food once a week."

  
Stiles threw his hands up in the air "Christ, its like being surrounded by children!"

  
There was silence mixed in with awkward shuffling, hung heads and the snorting of a dog as he tried to digest a Big Mac.

  
"Well" Derek broke the silence "Pretty sure its time for a nap so I'm just gonna..." It had been a long time since Stiles last saw Derek move that quick as he rushed to pick up his child before absconding from the room and up the stairs.

  
"Traitor" Jordan mumbled under his breath.

  
Stiles pointed to Parrish "Don't start. You should know better. We have talked about this. You are in breach of contract mister!"

  
Thats right, Stiles made his friends sign a contract when his Dad turned 60 which stipulated what food they could and could not give him. Lydia drew it up so he knows full well how iron-clad that shit was. So far, only Jackass was the only one who hasn't broken it - a fact that makes Stiles even more ashamed of his friends, his family and Betty Davies down the street. Her lemon bonbon's are delicious but lethal.

 

* * *

  
Stiles left the two sheriffs to rue the day they double crossed Stiles Stilinski and made his way up to his old room, which was now Jack's stay over room and came to stand beside Derek as he looked down at their napping son after he drew the curtains closed to darken the room.

  
Stiles never used to have that craving for kids and, despite his large family, neither did Derek. They weren't like Scott, Kira or Issac who had all gotten to a certain point in their lives where they had decided that they were ready for kids. They weren't like Lydia and Jackson who were adamant that kids had no role to play in their future. They had only briefly talked about it but never fully considered it.

  
Not until Jackass had called up one day about an abandoned baby found by the side of the road heading out of Beacon Hills. Kid was in hospital but they were struggling to find anyone who could take a baby on such short notice. Not only that but it seemed like Jackson wasn't too keen on letting the kid go.

  
After lots of persuasion and threats, at half past 1 in the morning, Jackson pulled up to the Stilinski-Hale house with an arm around a bundle of wriggling cloth and a flat pack cradle in the other. With Derek, it wasn't love at first sight. With Jack? It totally was. Stiles would have felt bad if it weren't for Derek having the same reaction.

  
They may not have made him but Jack was theirs and they were his.

  
(Even when they had to explain to the nice police officer the situation after a well meaning but potentially idiotic woman called the cops on them for attempted child kidnapping. Yes, they were two dark haired guys with a bright blond two year old but, honestly, there was really no need for Parrish to lock Derek up for the night because 'he looks shifty'. Its not a joke and thats just his normal face. Jordan was banned from the house for a whole week for that stunt.)

  
Kid was an angel. Such a shame that he would either take after Stiles or Derek personality-wise which will ruin any innocence he had ever had.

  
"I want another" Derek startled Stiles out of his thoughts, picturing the look on coach's face when Stilinski Junior rocks up with a report on the methods of making pasta for his economics class.

  
"Another what?"

  
Derek can still give impressive eyebrows of doom while he jerked his head down towards the crib "One of them"

  
"A kid?"

  
"No, a watermelon. Idiot"

  
Stiles joined Derek as he looked down again at Jack, trying to ignore the great puddle of drool that was soaking into the cot padding "Seriously?"

  
Derek nodded "I figure we aren't as bad at this family stuff as we first thought. I mean, the kid is still alive so that has to count for something and he doesn't seem too messed up at the moment."

  
Stiles had caught Jack trying to glue is face to a door frame the other day but he didn't think this was the time to raise this particular point.

  
Stiles studied the other mans face "You been thinking 'bout this for long?"

  
"A while."

  
Stiles pretended to think for a bit. Really, there was no thinking needed "Alright. I'll look into the adoption agencies in the area next weekend and we can get the ball rolling. We still have Jacks stuff so we are set for when we bring the next bundle of flesh and pee home."

  
Derek smiled as he lent in to peck Stiles on the lips. No words were needed between the two of them, they both knew how the felt at this moment in time.

  
"Hey" Stiles pulled away from Derek "We can ask Parrish to keep an ear out if anything comes through the grape vine at the station"

  
Turning from the cot, Stiles made his way to the door before turning back "Pick up the monitor while you are over there?"

  
Derek nodded as he made his way over the the side table to pick up said monitor. However when he went to pick it up, his hand completely missed the object by a clear distance leaving Derek to grab at thin air.

  
Stiles walked back into the room as the other man stared at his hand in confusion, watching as he flexed the muscles open and closed.

  
"You OK?" Stiles asked as he hedged closer to the man, saying nothing as Derek shook his hand out before reaching to grab the monitor again. This time he connected with no issue at all. Must have been a fluke of something.

  
"Yeah, I...I just cant see in the dark as well as I used to." Stiles kept watch as Derek have him a shaky smile before drawing past him to walk out the door and down the stairs.


End file.
